Seeing that the huge empire built by the old ancestor on an empty bowl was about to be destroyed in his own hands, Emperor Chongzhen shed tears of remorse.
Knowing that his empire was about to fall, Chongzhen hurriedly did many unexpected things in a limited time, such as killing his daughter with his own hands.
In addition to these, what other appalling things did Chongzhen do?
Imperial 毁灭前夕
Emperor Chongzhen can also be regarded as a more controversial emperor in the history of the mainland. Either way, what we can be sure of is that in fact, the demise of the Ming Dynasty cannot be blamed.
The roots of the Ming Dynasty had actually begun to rot long ago, and by the time they reached Chongzhen, they were already rotten, so no matter how hard Chongzhen worked, it would be useless.
On March 28, 1644, Chongzhen had completely collapsed at this time, because Li Zicheng was attacking the outermost defense of Beijing.
The defenders of the city were the three major battalions that the Ming army was proud of, but most of them were old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers, and their combat effectiveness was very low, so it was only a matter of time before Li Zicheng broke through the outer defenses.
As long as the periphery is broken, the Ming Dynasty can basically be declared dead in advance, so Chongzhen is desperate to the extreme.
So on the morning of March 28, Chongzhen said to the ministers: "Either we all commit suicide collectively, and it can be regarded as sacrificing our lives for the country." Unexpectedly, none of the ministers spoke, and only a few were secretly weeping.
In desperation, Chongzhen also broke the defense, and at that time he shouted: "It's all to blame for the civil and military ministers inside and outside, it's all you who delayed me!" ”
On the morning of the 28th, the sky was overcast and it was raining heavily, and Chongzhen's mood was extremely lost.
After the rain stopped at noon, Li Zicheng calmly began to command the army to attack calmly outside.
At about two o'clock in the afternoon, a eunuch guarding the city opened the city gate, and Li Zicheng entered the outer city.
Although he learned that the general trend had gone, Chongzhen still wanted to let people lead the three battalions to continue to defend, but unexpectedly, a eunuch said: "Your Majesty, you should leave quickly, the soldiers of the three battalions have already escaped." ”
At that moment, Chongzhen fell into despair again, and the national soldiers abandoned the emperor one by one for fear of death.
Just when Chongzhen was desperate, his three sons came to him. Looking at the three sons who were still wearing gorgeous clothes, Chongzhen said angrily: "When is it, you are still dressed so brightly, hurry up and change it for me!" ”
In this way, with the help of Chongzhen, the three sons all changed into ordinary people's clothes, and then Chongzhen began to arrange the aftermath: "You will escape with your father-in-law in a while." ”
"After you go out, remember that you can't be as unreasonable as in the palace, and you must be polite when you see your elders."
"The three of you always remember that no matter what danger you face, you must be strong to survive, understand?"
The three princes nodded as if they didn't understand after hearing this, the prince who was in his teens might understand what was going on, but the other two were still young and didn't know what earth-shattering things had happened.
It didn't take long for a group of eunuchs to come to Chongzhen, and after Chongzhen gave a few simple instructions, the eunuchs went out with the three princes.
Looking at the three sons who left, Chongzhen looked at them blankly, and tears flowed from the corners of his eyes.
Since this parting, Chongzhen has never met his three sons again.
After sending off the three sons, it was time for the concubines.
At that time, Chongzhen's idea was very simple, that is, to hold a final banquet, and everyone went on their own roads after they were full of food and drink.
When Empress Zhou learned about this, she began to wander around the Forbidden City. She told those palace maids and eunuchs that if you can escape from Beijing, you should escape as soon as possible, and don't be nostalgic for the Ming Dynasty anymore.
Hand blade bone meat
In order to make everyone believe in herself, Queen Zhou also walked around the city several times.
After notifying everyone, Queen Zhou came to Chongzhen's side, and the two of them also said the last words before committing suicide, which was regarded as their last words.
After saying what she said in her heart, Queen Zhou committed suicide in the palace, and such a good wife and mother finally became a pity.
Empress Zhou is a good queen in the history of the Ming Dynasty, and she has the great style of motherhood in the world.
It is said that when Wei Zhongxian was not eliminated, Empress Zhou personally cooked for Chongzhen every day, and what she was afraid of was that Wei Zhongxian secretly murdered the emperor.
But Chongzhen did not allow the harem to interfere in politics at that time, so Empress Zhou did not give much help in governing the country.
After Empress Zhou left, Chongzhen set his sights on Yuan Guifei.
This concubine's courage is not so outstanding, and she is not willing to die, but in Chongzhen's opinion, her concubines must die, and they must not leave one for Li Zicheng!
So Chongzhen directly brandished the sword in his hand, and Yuan Guifei was seriously injured and did not die, and finally died during the Qing Dynasty.
After killing the concubines, Chongzhen carried the sword to the bedroom of his daughter Princess Changping. That's right, Chongzhen didn't even want to let go of his daughter.
Chongzhen did this, in fact, he was afraid that his daughter would be humiliated. In Chongzhen's opinion, instead of living in humiliation, it is better to help her get rid of her pain in advance.
Looking at it this way, Chongzhen's idea is somewhat extreme.
Looking at the daughter curled up in the corner, her eyes were full of fear, Chongzhen really couldn't bear to do it, but in the end he still slashed out the sword.
At that time, Princess Changping's left arm was severely injured and fainted, but she did not die, and Chongzhen did not make up the knife.
After Chongzhen finished chopping, his hands trembled violently, after all, it was his own flesh and blood!
Then Chongzhen turned his head and came to the bedroom of his other daughter, Princess Zhaoren, this time there was no accident, Princess Zhaoren was directly killed by Chongzhen.
After settling the two daughters, Chongzhen said bitterly: "Why should I be born in the emperor's family, so that I have to kill my own daughter!" ”
After Princess Changping survived, she and other concubines who did not die were adopted by Li Zicheng, and they were not mistreated.
After the Qing army entered the customs, Princess Changping also wrote a book to think about being a nun, but Emperor Shunzhi felt that it was a pity for her to be a nun, so it was better to marry and have children, so he promised her a man.
But unfortunately, when Princess Changping was about to be pregnant for half a year, she suddenly became seriously ill and finally died.
Although the ending of Princess Changping is not too good, it is at least better than being killed by her father.
After dealing with the people around him, Chongzhen called his favorite minister Wang Chengen to his side.
The two sat together for a few drinks and talked by the way. Isn't it a pity that such a beautiful country is about to fall into the hands of bandits?
When the two were drinking, they chatted about their escape plans.
Although the outside has been blocked, as long as you find a way to escape, there may still be a chance of survival.
So where do you go after you escape? Chongzhen is likely to go to Nanjing to continue to be the emperor. After all, it was the capital of the Ming Dynasty at the beginning, and there were no enemies there.
In fact, the ministers had already put forward a proposal to move south, and Empress Zhou had hinted at it, but Chongzhen always said firmly: "The king is dead!" ”
The end is a rope
After discussing the escape plan, Chongzhen came to Wang Chengen's house at about 12 o'clock in the middle of the night, he put on the clothes of a eunuch, and prepared to escape with him.
But what Chongzhen didn't expect was that they walked around three doors, but none of them opened the door for them, and they all said that they couldn't open it until dawn.
In addition, what made Chongzhen very angry was that one of the small soldiers gave the reason for refusal: "Our family is not here, wait for them to come back." ”
The one guarding the door is Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, so what did he do outside? It is said that he was invited by a large banquet.
The country is dying, and there are still people busy going to the feast!
Seeing that he couldn't get out of any door, Chongzhen finally turned around and returned to the Forbidden City, and changed into his own exclusive clothes.
At around 5 o'clock in the morning on March 29, Chongzhen personally went to strike the bell, what is this for? Of course, he summoned hundreds of officials to his side, and he wanted to "die together" with his ministers.
Unexpectedly, no one came after knocking for a long time, because most of the officials in the DPRK and China had already found a way to run away in advance.
In the end, Chongzhen and Wang Chengen came to Jingshan hand in hand. Here, Chongzhen hanged himself and died, ending his untimely life.
A bowl at the beginning, a rope at the end!
Wang Chengen was also very sad when he saw this, so he also followed the emperor, which can be regarded as "dead society".
In addition to these two people, some ministers also committed suicide.
Two days after Chongzhen hanged himself, Li Zicheng finally discovered the emperor of the late Ming Dynasty. He was also very emotional, and in the end, Li Zicheng asked Chongzhen and Queen Zhou to put them in special coffins, and then he didn't care anymore.
At that time, Chongzhen did not have his own mausoleum, so he didn't know how to bury him.
In fact, Li Zicheng was unwilling to pay that money, and in the end, the eunuchs and the people scraped together a little money and buried the two in the tomb of Tian Guifei, who was favored by Chongzhen before his death, and later that place became Siling.
It is said that at that time, someone found Chongzhen's clothes in his own written edict, the first sentence of which was: "You can divide me casually and take it to invite merit, and please don't hurt a common people!" ”
Then Chongzhen reviewed himself, but the review was review, and he thought that the reason why the Ming Dynasty would perish was completely in the hands of those ministers.
Chongzhen said more than once before his death: "Daming did not die in my hands, but in the hands of you ministers, you are the ministers of the dead country, but I am not the king of the dead country!" ”
When many people in later generations commented on Chongzhen, they also thought that he was not to blame for the demise of the Ming Dynasty, for example, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty basically thought so.
After Li Zicheng entered the Forbidden City, some eunuchs took the initiative to sacrifice Chongzhen's three sons in order to protect themselves, and they did not take advantage of the chaos to escape.
Li Zicheng still has a little pity, like Chongzhen's concubines and children, he didn't kill them, but Chongzhen himself killed a lot.
But unfortunately, when Li Zicheng withdrew from Beijing, the palace was completely chaotic, and Chongzhen's three sons have not heard from them since.
Although Chongzhen was diligent in political affairs after succeeding to the throne, the country could no longer be saved, and what he did in the 24 hours before hanging himself is really incomprehensible.
No matter what the circumstances, killing his own daughter with his own hands is destined to be blamed by future generations. Although he is not the king of the dead country, he is the ruthless father of the murderer!